During a recent trip to Vancouver, the 57-year old lawyer and father of two told me: "The people who spin for Mr. Topp use the word 'front-runner,' as they have done from Day 1.

"But there have been a fair number of polls so far and every one has put me ahead, so I'm happy with that."

Mulcair also cited "a whisper campaign by anonymous sources" about his having a bad temper and not being a team player. "My best calling card to answer that," he said, "is there were 33 people standing on stage with me the day I announced my candidacy" on Oct. 13.

3 Comments:

I've seen some poll numbers putting Mulcair ahead. But you can't really trust these polls. I don't even know what methodology they are using. If they are polling the general public then that is meaningless. They need to poll NDP members.

In any event it's too early to care about polls.

I have told people in the past (and I still by this) if Mulcair wins the NDP nomination I quit the NDP. I am not going to waste time with the party if it is just going to be a second Liberal Party.

With 59 MPs from Quebec who most likely either strongly support the Sherbrooke Declaration, or think it doesn't go far enough, I'd say there's little chance of the NDP becoming a second Liberal Party regardless of who wins. If anything, it will turn into BQ-Lite.